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7 Sept 2004 : Column 1003W—continued

Secondary School Targets

Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations the Department has received regarding its new secondary school targets. [186469]

Mr. Miliband: The DfES has received no formal representations on the new secondary school PSA targets since their announcement on 12 July.

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (Great Yarmouth)

Mr. Anthony D. Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much public funding has been spent in Great Yarmouth on measures within the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001. [186720]

Margaret Hodge: The information requested is not held in this format.

Norfolk county council will spend an estimated £45 million on special educational needs in 2004–05. This includes the amount delegated to schools and the authority's central spend on special needs. In addition, Norfolk has £1,352,236 available in 2004–05 through the Schools Access Initiative.
 
7 Sept 2004 : Column 1004W
 

Strategic Area Reviews

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost of strategic area reviews was in 2003–04; and how much is budgeted for (a) 2004–05 and (b) 2005–06. [186603]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) was established in 2001 to plan and fund post-16 education and training. LSC led strategic area reviews were introduced in April 2003 and are an integral part of this planning role. No extra funding was allocated to carry out these reviews and it is therefore not possible to disaggregate their specific cost from the overall cost of the wide range of planning activities carried out by local LSCs.

Student Grants/Loans

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will place in the Library the survey referred to in his answer of 10 May 2004, Official Report, columns 53–54W, on student grants. [186849]

Alan Johnson: The specially commissioned survey referred to in the answer of 10 May 2004, Official Report, columns 53–54W, was collected from local education authorities in England and Wales and completion of it was on a voluntary basis. The response rate means that the survey results cannot be used safely at the level of individual LEAs, although we can use it nationally when also combined with income data from other sources. That is how we constructed the estimate of the proportion of students anticipated to receive the full grant of £2,700. However because of the data quality issues it is not possible to publish the raw survey data itself.

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what monetary sums were transferred to the Scottish Office further to the sale of portfolios of student loans in (a) 1998 and (b) 1999. [182984]

Alan Johnson [holding answer 8 July 2004]: The sums paid to the Scottish Office in respect of the two student loan debt sales were as follows:

	£
1998	110,186,867.85
1999	110,000,778.97

Sure Start

Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many Sure Start programmes (a) have begun and (b) are planned in (i) St. Helens and (ii) England, broken down by region. [186811]

Margaret Hodge : Five Sure Start local programmes have been established in St. Helens since 1999. No further Sure Start local programmes will be developed. As part of our policy to mainstream Sure Start principles, the Government are establishing children's centres across England, many of which will be developed from existing Sure Start local programmes.

524 Sure Start local programmes have been established in England; these break down by region as follows.
 
7 Sept 2004 : Column 1005W
 

Region	Number
East of England	24
East Midlands	44
London	96
North East	62
North West	108
South East	33
South West	31
West Midlands	58
Yorkshire and Humber	68

Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans the Government have to extend Sure Start beyond the 20 per cent. most deprived wards; and if he will make a statement. [187362]

Margaret Hodge: Sure Start benefits children, parents and communities across the country, delivering free early education for all three and four-year-olds, improving the quality and affordability of child care, and creating at least 250,000 new child care places by 2006. Sure Start children's centres are being established initially in the 20 per cent. most disadvantaged wards and areas where pockets of disadvantage exist in England. By March 2008 we will have up to 2,500 children's centres which will cover all the 20 per cent. wards and beyond. The Government's long-term aim is to develop a children's centre in every community.

Mr. Anthony D. Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding has been allocated to the Great Yarmouth constituency under the Sure Start scheme. [186712]

Margaret Hodge: A total of £8,101,348 Sure Start funding has so far been allocated to the constituency of Great Yarmouth, comprising £3,136,535 capital and £4,706,921 revenue towards the development of two Sure Start local programmes, two neighbourhood Nurseries and two Children's Centres. The combined programmes will provide Sure Start services for around 1,596 children and families in the six most disadvantaged wards in the constituency. These figures does not include local authorities funding for child care and nursery education allocated to Norfolk county council.

Teachers

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the impact in Nottingham of reductions in numbers of teachers and teaching assistants on the introduction of planning, preparation and assessment time for all teachers. [187084]

Mr. Miliband: Individual schools will decide how they introduce planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time for all teachers from September 2005. That is because schools make changes in their staffing levels every year in response to a range of issues including changing pupil numbers, new school priorities and the resources available to them.

The calculation of the Education Formula Spending Share has a floor and ceiling component which ensures that all authorities see a minimum increase per pupil which is in part funded by having a ceiling which imposes a maximum increase per pupil. In 2004–05
 
7 Sept 2004 : Column 1006W
 
Nottingham City local education authority received the ceiling increase (6.8 per cent. per pupil and percentages provide for average cost of implementing PPA time).

I refer also to the written statement I laid before the House on 13 July 2004, Official Report, column 55WS, on school funding for 2005–06. On the same day there was also a press notice issued by the Department (DfES press notice 2004/0137), which included a statement welcoming the school funding settlement by the Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group (made up of the majority of the school workforce unions and other partners).

The written statement to the House sets out how we have considered, with our partner signatories, the costs of implementation of the National Agreement. It announces what funds will be available to schools to implement the Agreement in 2005–06.

At local level, the funding allocation for each local education authority for 2005–06 will be announced in the provisional local government finance settlement in the autumn. However, every authority will receive an increase in the Schools Formula Spending Share of at least 5.5 per cent. per pupil. Primary and nursery schools will receive a minimum funding increase per pupil of 5 per cent. and secondary schools of 4 per cent. where pupil numbers do not change.

We will continue to monitor trends in the schools workforce through the Annual Schools Census each January. There are now 427,800 full-time equivalent teachers—28,600 more than in 1997 and the highest number since 1981—and the number of support staff has increased to 241,700, having more than doubled since 1997. These figures illustrate the trend of the significant increases in teachers and support staff since 1997.

The next School Workforce Volume will be available in the autumn.

Mr. Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the most recent estimate is of the average total salary of a (a) primary school teacher and (b) secondary school teacher in (i) Enfield, (ii) Inner London and (iii) England; and if he will make a statement. [187003]

Mr. Miliband: The following table shows the average salary of full-time teachers employed in maintained nursery/primary and secondary schools in Enfield local education authority, Inner London and England in March 2002, the latest information available.
£

	Nursery and primary	Secondary
Enfield LEA	29,700	32,070
Inner London	30,880	33,660
England	27,600	29,550

Source:
The Database of Teacher Records. Figures cover all grades and include all allowances.

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what level of proficiency participants in (a) the Post Graduate Certificate of Education, (b) Teach First and (c) the Graduate
 
7 Sept 2004 : Column 1007W
 
Teacher Programme need to reach with regard to (i) ICT and (ii) special educational needs to be deemed to have met the course requirements. [186421]

Mr. Miliband: Before they can be recommended for qualified teacher status, all trainee teachers, whatever training route they follow, must demonstrate that they have achieved the professional standards for QTS set out in "Qualifying to teach". This applies to all the standards, including those related to ICT and special educational needs.

Mr. Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) primary and (b) secondary teacher vacancies there were at the start of each of the last five academic years in (i) the London borough of Enfield, (ii) inner London and (iii) England; what the percentage salary rate was in each year; and if he will make a statement. [187006]

Mr. Miliband: The tables show teacher vacancy numbers and rates in maintained nursery/primary and secondary schools in the London borough of Enfield, inner London and England in January of each year since 1999. January 2003 is the latest year available.

	Nursery and Primary
	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Vacancies(42)
Enfield	19	13	29	27	16
Inner London	367	355	510	321	153
England	1,374	1,420	2,110	1,796	1,114
Rates(43)
Enfield	1.9	1.2	2.7	2.5	1.8
Inner London	3.8	3.6	5.4	3.4	1.6
England	0.8	0.8	1.2	1.0	0.6

	Secondary
	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Vacancies(42)
Enfield	9	15	33	33	21
Inner London	140	197	367	267	194
England	939	1,246	2,586	2,447	2,050
Rates(43)
Enfield	0.7	1.3	2.7	3.0	1.8
Inner London	1.9	2.6	4.8	3.5	2.6
England	0.5	0.7	1.4	1.3	1.1

⁽⁴²⁾ Advertised vacancies for full-time permanent appointments (or appointments of at least one term's duration). Includes vacancies being filled on a temporary basis of less than one term.
⁽⁴³⁾ Vacancies as a percentage of full-time qualified teachers in post.
Source:
DfES annual survey of teachers in service (Form 618g)

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many full-time equivalent teachers have been employed in Suffolk in each of the last 10 years. [187194]

Mr. Miliband: The following table gives the full-time equivalent number of regular teachers in the maintained schools sector in Suffolk local education authority in each January since 1994. 2003 is the latest year available.
 
7 Sept 2004 : Column 1008W
 

	Number
2003	5,700
2002	5,660
2001	5,490
2000	5,450
1999	5,450
1998	5,380
1997	5,330
1996	5,330
1995	5,360
1994	5,270

Source:
DfES annual survey of teachers in service (Form 618G).

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